Former world number one, Datuk Lee Chong Wei will rebound at the World Championship in Jakarta, scheduled from Aug 11-16, despite his recent quarterfinal defeat to Chen Long at the Taiwan Open, according to Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM) Technical Director, Morten Frost Hansen.
Frost said the national ace had proved that he is on par with other best players in the world through his recent performance despite being away from court for eight months for a doping violation.
“He still has the standard to win against Chen Long, who is a World Champion and also the best player in world for the time being. Chong Wei won the first game quite comfortably and he was not far from winning the second game.
“I am very positive about him. Chong Wei is very positive too, he is not affected by the defeat at all,” he told Bernama when contacted today.
The 32-year-old shuttler lost to Chen Long of China 21-17, 20-22 and 13-21 after a gruelling an hour and 17 minutes battle at the Taipei Arena last Friday.
Chong Wei now has to focus on the World Championship to gain as much points as he can to improve on his current ranking of 65 to earn a slot at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics in Brazil.
Fresh from capturing the Canadian Open and United States Grand Prix, Chong Wei could have picked up some valuable points by advancing further in the Taiwan Open.
Commenting on the targets set for the Malaysian shuttlers at the upcoming World Championship, Morten said:”The focus is to improve the overall standard (of Malaysian badminton level) step by step, it is not on ‘the one’ tournament.
“We always want to do better, it would be lovely to celebrate Chong Wei as World Champion and great if can have others to reach the quarter-finals. Need to crawl and walk before we run,” he added.
Besides Chong Wei, former junior champion Zulfadli Zulkiffli will be another shuttler to bring ‘Jalur Gemilang’ (national flag) in the men’s singles department at the prestigious tournament.
For record, Chong Wei was the runner-up at the 2011 and 2013 World Championships. – BERNAMA
